How to Press Copper Tool
How to Press Copper Tool - No More Fire Engines!
Watch the video below to discover the magic of making leakproof joints with copper tubing and fittings using a press tool. You'll never set your house on fire using a torch so hot that it can melt metal! Your local firefighters will thank you for using this clever tool!
I swear I can transform you into a master plumber in less than a month! I've been one since 1981, silly, so I know a thing or two about plumbing.
NOTE FROM TIM: The tool used in this video is expensive. A plumber would use it every day or every other day. You might have a use for it once every five years. Guess what? You can RENT IT for a few hours! Get all your measurements done, cut your pipe, assemble everything, go rent the tool, then press your fittings and get the tool back to the rental center. It's not hard to work smart!
Do NOT confuse these press fittings with the age-old compression fittings that are used to make connections between hard piping/shutoff valves and the flexible supply tubes under sinks and toilets. Those compression fittings are not nearly as strong as the crimp created by the press tool. No master plumber worth his salt would EVER install a traditional compression fitting in a hidden space. I don't want you doing it either for goodness sake!
This is a press tool. You can make a leakproof connection in less than 5 seconds.
CLICK or TAP HERE to purchase the Ridgid Press Tool Kit I used in this video.
The tool is a touch expensive for the homeowner who may have a leak to repair here or there. I use compression fittings.
That's why at the end of the video I suggest to you that you RENT it.
HI Tim I was impressed by the use of the Ridgid press tool. I need to cahnge over the taps in both our showers and 2 basins. These have been soldered or brazed and there is very little room once I remove wall tiles. I have also seen joints made with olives. ie a copper circular device which is part of a joiner . There are two olives and two screw hexagonal pieces. When you screw the haxagons tightly they squash the two olives onto the copper pipe thus sealing them. Is this method a cheaper one than the ridgid tool idea because I would not need to but this tool?
michael costa
What a wonderful tool that Ridgid has made. I have a few friends who still live "up North" and I am sending them another note to them to sign up for all of the informative video's you have for them to maintain their homes; especially before freezing weather sets in. Thank you for this great video this morning. Holly Daley
1. What's to keep it from freezing again?
2. Why did you need the coupling? Couldn't you have crimped the horizontal pipe into the elbow?
Nice show and tell, but a good plumber, and I have one, would probably complete this task for less than the cost of a rental, if there was a place actually renting this compressor.
Hi Tim, Love your site and knowledge. I know you are a master plumber and I'm not, but just one comment. You are correct to use saliva to avoid damaging the o-ring, but just as important is to make SURE the cut end of the pipe is perfectly smooth or the o-ring will be damaged.
The life of the o-rings remains to be seen but the great thing about the press-fit fittings is that if you damage the o-ring, or it leaks, you can just use a
torch to put a sealing bead of solder to seal the leak. Since the strength of the joint is assured by the press-fit, the bead only need be for sealing.
Tim, What were you thinking, leaving water in exposed copper pipes with temps below 32 degF?!!
Ouch, that tool is pricey! I think I'll stick with the old torch and solder.
Thanks for the video!
Hi Tim
Great demo on pipe repair.